Senate Frieze - FRONT “These individuals, with their widely differing backgrounds, represent the variety Senate Frieze of threads that were woven together to LEFT make Oregon what it - is. In many cases, had these people been different than they - RIGHT were, had they acted differently, Oregon’s Senate Frieze history would be different and, in a sense, Oregon today would be different.” - Philip Cogswell, Jr. Capitol Names Senate Frieze -BACK Borrowing from Philip Cogswell, Jr.’s Capitol Names: Individuals Woven Into Oregon’s History, this virtual tour explores the 69 individuals remembered in the Oregon Senate. Use the diagram above to start exploring the names inscribed in the friezes above the Oregon Senate Chamber. Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON Thomas Jefferson President Thomas Jefferson organized the Lewis & Clark Expedition (1804-1806), which was also encouraged by his Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin. Following Captain Gray’s discovery of the Columbia River, Jefferson saw the Louisiana Purchase as an aid to establishing an American claim to the Northwest. John Ledyard’s book about his voyage with Captain Cook in 1783 is credited with sparking Jefferson’s interest in exploring the west. Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON George Abernethy George Abernethy was a Methodist missionary who arrived in Oregon in 1840 as part of the Great Reinforcement for Jason Lee’s mission. By 1849, Abernethy was one of the leading businessmen in the region. Abernethy was elected governor of the Provisional Government in 1845 and again in 1847, after winning a narrow victory over Asa Lovejoy. Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON John Kendrick John Kendrick commanded the Columbia Rediviva while Robert Gray commanded the Lady Washington on a two-ship voyage to the northwest coast in 1787. The voyage was financed by merchants interested in John Ledyard’s book about Captain Cook’s travels in the Pacific. Kendrick and Gray later exchanged ships when animosity developed between them. Kendrick took the Lady Washington to develop a Pacific trade between the Northwest, Sandwich Islands, and China. Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON Martin D’Aguilar Martin D’Aguilar was captain of the Tres Reyes, a Spanish sailing vessel, which voyaged the northwest coast in 1602. His ship’s log contains one of the first written descriptions of the Oregon coast. Later, in 1774, Spanish sea captain Juan Perez would also explore the northwest coast. The discovery of the Columbia River in 1792 by Captain Gray, as recounted in John Boit’s journal, followed these earlier explorations of the northwest coast by D’Aguilar, Perez, and others. Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON Robert Newell Robert Newell, a mountain man and frontier doctor, was also the brother-in-law of the renowned pioneer Joseph Meek. Newell and Meek helped open an important stretch of the Oregon Trail in 1840. Newell was also a member of the Legislative Committee of the Provisional Government (1843-48). After the Whitman Massacre in 1847, he urged a peace commission to work with Indians. In 1852, Newell platted the town of Champoeg and was elected to the state legislature in 1860. Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON William S. Harney William S. Harney was a Major General and the first commander of the new Military Department of Oregon created in 1858. One of his first acts was to formally declare the area east of the Cascades open for settlement. Harney sent troops through eastern Oregon exploring and protecting immigrant trains. Harney County was named for him. Like Major General Philip Sheridan and General Edward R. S. Canby, Harney was a veteran of the Union Army during the Civil War. Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON Wilson Price Hunt Wilson Price Hunt was the only American partner in Astor’s fur trading venture to the Pacific Northwest. Hunt was the leader of the overland Astor party that endured great hardship in the Snake River country before finally reaching Astoria in 1811, after receiving help from Chief Concomly’s Chinook confederacy. Hunt’s overland party included Marie Aioe Dorion and Ramsay Crooks. Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON James W. Nesmith James W. Nesmith came to Oregon with the Great Migration of 1843 and was elected to the Supreme Court of the Provisional Government in 1845. Nesmith served in the Provisional Legislature (1847-48) and was a captain in the Cayuse War of 1848, during which Colonel Cornelius Gilliam led the volunteer forces. Nesmith was appointed U.S. Marshall in 1853-55 to succeed Joseph Meek. Nesmith later served as Superintendent of Indian Affairs (1857-59), Oregon’s U.S. Senator (1861-65), and U.S. Representative (1873-75). Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON R. S. Williamson R. S. Williamson, together with his assistant, Henry L. Abbot, surveyed potential railroad routes to California in the 1850s, one of the first steps to develop rail connections between the Northwest and the eastern United States. In 1867, he made the first official computation of the height of Mt. Hood. Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON Lafayette Grover Lafayette Grover was the first U.S. Representative from Oregon (1859) and later became the Governor of Oregon (1870-77) and U.S. Senator (1877-83). Grover served as a delegate to Oregon’s Constitutional Convention in 1857 along with Matthew Deady, George H. Williams, Levi Scott, Asa Lovejoy, and others. Grover was a member of the “Salem Clique” of Oregon Democrats that also included Joseph Lane and Asahel Bush. Return to Chamber Diagram Senate Frieze – Front THOMAS JEFFERSON * GEORGE WILSON PRICE HUNT * JAMES W NESMITH JOHN S NEWBERRY * THOMAS H ABERNETHY * JOHN KENDRICK R S WILLIAMSON * LAFAYETTE GROVER BENTON * CORNELIUS GILLIAM MARTIN D’AGUILAR * ROBERT WILLIAM H WILLSON * MATTHEW P DEADY SAMUEL R THURSTON * JOHN C NEWELL * WILLIAM S HARNEY SAMUEL PARKER * FRANCOIS X MATTHIEU AINSWORTH * THOMAS CONDON William H. Willson William H. Willson arrived in Oregon in 1837.